Copper wires have long been used in the telecommunications industry to transmit information within and between individual telecommunications facilities. More recently, telecommunications facilities have begun to replace the aging copper wires with optical fibers. Optical fibers are able to transmit large volumes of data and voice signals over relatively long distances, with little or no signal degradation. For this reason, optical fibers have become widely used in the telecommunication field. However, the cost of replacing the existing copper based telecommunications infrastructure is substantial. Accordingly, telecommunications providers typically upgrade their infrastructures in sections, migrating from copper wire to optical fiber gradually.
The systems used to manage and organize optical fibers are often different than those used to manage wires, since, for example, optical fibers tend to be more susceptible to damage from bending than wires. Thus, when a telecommunications company replaces a section of wires with optical fibers, they must also replace the systems used to manage that section of wires. In addition, the section of wires replaced may be only a portion of the wires managed by a particular wire management system. In that case, it would be necessary to add an additional cabinet, rack, or other management system to handle the new fibers that replace the old section of wires. However, because floor space is often at a premium in a telecommunications facility, it is desirable to minimize the number of separate cabinets, racks, and/or other management systems.